Author: mikaelalind

Ramblings about travels

On By mikaelalindIn Life

The writing is progressing. Right now I am doing type in, which will take me the rest of August, probably.   Or at least until the 19th, since I am leaving for Sicily the 20th.   I look forward to it, even if it will be hot.  If I had been asked, I would have suggested Dublin or Edinburgh.

And I just booked my lodgings for World Fantasy Con. Yay! I am staying at Amblecliff. It seems nice, have decent reviews  and is reasonably priced 🙂  Now to I need to book plane tickets. Which I’ll probably do in Sept/ Early Oct.  

I  would love to go to WorldCon next year, but I am not sure if I can afford it. *checks Loncon’s webpage*  Ooh. Loncon have an Instalment Membership Plan.  Which means I can afford the membership. Yay!  In fact, I think it will be a perfect birthday gift  either to myself  or from dad :).

Oh, look. Another month have passed.  I have been busy enjoying the sunshine ( and blessing the fact that Sweden rarely gets temp over 30 C), and spending time with my family. And writing. A lot of writing.  So far this month I have written close to 90 pages, which is really good.   

And because of the writing, I have done research. Fascinating research about Sweden during the 1700’s.

Other than the writing I am busy preparing to switch Book Recommendation to Word Press. And self-hosting. *gulp* But I am sure it will go fine.  ( My biggest worry is that I’ll forget to post. )

On By mikaelalindIn Uncategorized

An life update

On By mikaelalindIn Life

I know, I know. I haven’t posted in ages, but to be truthful I am not sure how many people is actually reading this blog. *g*  The main reason for not posting in ages is because I spent most of June studying botany. Which was intense, but fun.  It also meant I  was online for most of the month. So everything  was basically on hold.  ( And yet I somehow managed to collect 5 ARCs… ).   Which means July should be calmer, right?

Uhm. Not so much.  See, all the things that I put on hold during June still needs to be done.  Like deciding which subjects I’ll blog about over at Ecology for Writers ( I think Invasive Species are first up), and write reviews and other blog posts for Book Recommendations.

And write, of course.  I have been really productive the last days. I have typed in 2000 words, so far.  A part of me is whispering that I could finish the type in this weekend, but at the same time it is summer and I have been in door for the last two days since I got a cold. ( Or at least the beginnings of one.)

And I have discovered that most publicizing sites wants to follow new people for me at Twitter.  My reaction to that: Hell no!  I’ll just keep on being spotty with marketing my blogposts. ( Although I really should do it more often, esp for Book Recommendations)

I have come to the conclusion that I need a desk.  Except the only place for a desk is the corner were I keep the bags with books that I don’t want to keep…

Traditional Swedish Raspberry pie

On By mikaelalindIn Life

It was Mother’s Day in Sweden yesterday, and I decided to make raspberry pie. Which turned out yummy but too much berries vs dough. So I made it again with less berries:).

Pie dough:
1 ½ dl flour
100 g butter
1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:
250 g frozen berries
½ dl sugar
1 tablespoon potatoe starch

Heat the oven to 225 C
Measure up the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into cubes. Mix the butter and flour mixture until a crumbly dough have formed.

Let the berries thaw a bit. Mix the berries, the sugar and the starch. (Either in a bowl or in the form). Pour the berry mix into the form, and spread the dough on top. Make sure the dough more or less covers the berries, and put it into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Sometimes, things happen for a reason

On By mikaelalindIn Writing

I got a B-12 shot yesterday, which meant I had the energy to pick up the revision of The Brownie Liason. Discover to my dismay when I discovered that the edits I had made on chapter Four wasn’t saved.   To say that I was pissed off is to put it mildly, so I decided to read something.

I did wander back into the war room, lured by a tweet by Laura Anne Gilman.   And, I decided to skim through the draft of Vampyrvinter. Which made me decide  to dust off the Jenny Stories idea, and then out of the blue : BAM.  See, I have been toying with writing a mystery about an innkeeper for the last couple of weeks.   The new idea meant that idea clicked with the brownie liason idea.    It would mean a extensive re-plot, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing since if this works out the heroine would actually stand to lose something.

 

To do for May and June:

On By mikaelalindIn Life

*Apply for a new passport
* Book lodgings for Brighton
* Start a business account at the bank
* Decide if I should create a separate Paypal Account   ( Yes. Need to separate personal money and company money)
* No matter what: Add my bank account to my Paypal account
* Register the company with Skatteverket
* Maybe ask the Job Center for help
* Tell my family. *g*  ( On facebook. Still haven’t told mum.)
* Write the material for the webpage ( Or, well, wordpress blog. Right now)
* Buy birthday gifts and graduation gifts, and what not (  Still need to buy the birthday gift)
Oh, and Try not to freak out. ( Eee. I am really doing this!)

There are probably a thousand things I am forgetting 🙂

Tea, Life and Writing

On By mikaelalindIn Life

I bought a small tin of Kusmi Tea yesterday, and made a cup. It was really nice( except that I should have let it steep longer), so nice that my mouth protested when I had a cup of Twining’s Lady Grey last nice. sigh.

My dad made the most yummy fried rice yesterday with mild turkish peppers, garlic and mint. I was a bit suspicious that the pepper was feferoni, since dad loves it ( I don’t. Too strong for my taste)

Carrie Ryan posted about plot structure on Magical Words yesterday, and something clicked. I have felt that I have slid backwards when it comes to plotting the last year. ( Which shows in the number of partial drafts I have. ) So I cannot wait to give her structure a try!

And life… I am maybe, maybe moving sometime next year :). ( It is complicated, uncertain and a bit sad)

Springsteen!

On By mikaelalindIn Life

I went and saw Bruce Springsteen last night in the new megadont Friends Arena.   And he played the whole Darkness on the edge of Town record!  Which was a nice treat 🙂 (The first night, he played Born to run, which makes me wonder which one he will play  May 11th…)

I am glad I had a chance to go, my only nitpickety is that the venue was too big which made everything feel a bit diluted.  Anyway, if he plays at Friends the next time, I think I’ll pass.   But if he plays at Ullevi? I am there. His concerts at Ullevi are *magical*. 🙂

My writer brain was happy too, since it gave me not one, but two ideas (!).  First during Leap of faith when he sang ” Clarence is gone.”  Which I heard as ” Clearance is gone.”  Which made me wonder why and who 🙂 ( It might be tied to the notion of writing a steampunk version of WW II I also got yesterday).  Then  during Radio Nowhere, I got  a flash of a character sitting in a radio studio saying ” This is Radio Nowhere. Is anyone alive out there?”    Probably a short story, and post apocalyptic.  No idea what  catastrophe though.  ( I know it isn’t a disease, but except for that it is wide open.  )

 

 

3 Women SF/Fantasy writers to read

On By mikaelalindIn Book Recommendations

Yesterday, Kari Sperring  started the hashtag #womentoread on Twitter. Today, she is asking bloggers to write about a woman writer they love.  One? One? *mutters*    I think I’ll pick 3, instead.

Lazette Gifford:

Lazette Gifford is small press and self published, but I really like her books. Her fantasy novels are well written, but her Science Fiction novels are exceptional. I love how they explore cultural differences, tech vs non tech, humans vs non humanoid species.  I especially like the fact that they don’t contain any  romance.

Wen Spencer:

I have read almost all of Wen Spencer’s novels, and I love them.  I love them for the mix of genres, even if technically all of them are science fiction.

Lorna Freeman: 

Military fantasy at its best.  The characters are great, the plot twists fascinating. And… unfortunately out of print.  But I encourage you to snatch up a used copy if you stumble upon it.

That said, I took a good look on my autobuy list, and realised that it is almost only female writers. So, I guess I should give some male writers a try.